While floral compositions are popular scenes for small plaques and tables, lare micromosaic panels such as this are rare. Fortunately, the Gilbert Collections owns four examples. They are inspired by northern European floral still lifes celebrated in the 17th century and offer a remarkable rendering of the rich colours and vitality of the flowers. To achieve this effect, the mosaicist would have created tesserae in innumerable shades of pink, blue, green and red, among other colours, and there seems to be no tessera of the same tone next to each other. The joins between the tesserae were painted to create the perfect illusion of a smooth picture. Elongated tesserae were preferred to convey the shape and movement of petals, used in different sizes to provide more depth to the picture. Such technical innovations have been attributed to master mosaicist Antonio Aguatti, who trained many craftsmen at the Vatican workshops.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.